Daily Archives: July 18, 2016

Adult Coloring Book: Doodle Worlds (The Peaceful Adult Coloring Book Series)

By: Lei Melendres

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my second coloring book by artist Lei Melendres. The first, by another publisher, was Doodle Fusion and I have really enjoyed coloring with Mr. Melendres imaginative artwork in that book. This new book has taken his doodle artwork to a new level. The designs are in a circular form, kind of like a doodle mandala. I enjoy both forms of coloring, so getting designs that merge the two together has been great fun.

The designs are detailed to the point of being intricate. While they are intricate and detailed, I didn’t find the elements to be so small that I needed special pens, etc. to color them. The exception to this was the double-sided introduction page which, if you wish, you can color as well but is not counted as part of the 48 designs. There is just so much in this book to discover as you are coloring. I was in the middle of my first project and as I was coloring, I found things that I hadn’t seen at first glance. It was almost like having a treasure hunt.

The publishing of this book is a real improvement over the last book. The improved paper quality, the one page printing, and the perforation on each page are things that I look for. As an added bonus, there are two double-sided pages at the back of the book for use in determining color palettes. This is something I really appreciate.

This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium. In the comments section below, I will include a list of the coloring medium I use for my tests and which I generally use for coloring my projects.

48 Circular format Doodle Designs plus 2 double-sided color palette test pages

Printed on one side of the page

Paper is medium weight, white, slightly rough and perforated for easy removal

Glue Bound

Opens fairly flat for coloring if you crease or break the spine of the book

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper.

Water-based markers leave colorful shadows and tiny spots that bleed through on the back of the page.

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on the page of the page.

Colored pencils work well with this paper. The slight roughness of the paper is excellent for grabbing coloring from both oil and wax based pencils. I was able to get good pigment through multiple layers of the same color, to layer different colors and to blend colors using a pencils style blending stick. Hard leads left slight dents through the page when the pencils was extremely sharp.

I suggest either removing project pages from the book or using a blotter page behind your working page. I like card stock but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper work as well.

Animorphia Postcards

By: Kerby Rosanes

Rating: 5 of 5

While I was a tiny bit disappointed that Kerby Rosanes iconic cover art design was not included in this set, that was the only small complaint I had about the set. There are 20 postcards, each with a different design. Rather than just shrink designs to fit, these are designs that are cropped and, in most cases, enlarged for ease of coloring. It makes for a whole new coloring experience for those of us who have Mr. Rosanes coloring book.

While the elements of the designs were enlarged for these postcards, I still found that I needed fairly sharp pencils and ultra-fine or brush markers and small nib gel pens to color much of the designs. Some of the designs are quite intricate and may prove challenging for those who have issues with vision and fine motor skills.

I was so happy that I could use markers without worry of bleed-through (though my alcohol-based markers did seep through a bit.) I don’t use most of my postcards as such. Instead, I mount the on cards and either frame them as gifts or use them as cards. Because of that, I don’t care about a tad of bleed through but I will include a picture of the back so you can see for yourself.

I’m actually hoping to see an artist’s edition similar to those by other artists where the designs are printed on card stock and are on the page without loss of design in the binding. That would be the perfect way to color some of the fantastic animal designs from the original book. In the meantime, this is a pint-size version of my dream Rosanes book and I am enjoying it tremendously.

This is what I found while coloring in this set of cards and testing my coloring medium on the card stock. In the comments section below, I’ll include a list of the medium I use for testing and for most of my coloring projects.

20 Designs cropped from the Animorphia coloring book by Kerby Rosanes

Printed on one side of card stock

Card stock is white, heavyweight and slightly smooth

Glue binding (in the sense of a notepad where pages can easily be removed in whole.

Back is printed for use as a postcard

Alcohol-based markers bleed through slightly. A little more than spotting but not enough to bleed onto my blotter page below. I recommend either removing the postcard from the book to color or the use of a blotter just in case. I cut down a piece of heavyweight paper to keep in the book.

Water-based markers, gel pens, and India ink artist pens do not bleed through this card stock.

Colored pencils worked well. Both wax and oil based pencils provided good color, layered, and blended well. Hard lead pencils provide deep and crisp color.

Charles Santore: Snow White Coloring Book

By: ?

Rating: 5 of 5

I purchased two new coloring books, by Pomegranate, based on the artwork of Charles Santore. The other book (Aesop’s Fables) had much darker shading than this book but still Snow White has a lot of shading in lighter tones of gray. I found that the same technique I used for Aesop’s Fables worked well for dealing with the unusual amount of gray in these designs. I treated them as if I were working on a grayscale design by laying down a foundation of color using alcohol-based markers. Once that I was done, the gray shading became the shading in my colors. I added colored pencil details and highlights and was really pleased with the end result.

The designs are really elegantly drawn with fine details from the original artwork. Thumbnails of the original watercolors of each design are printed in glossy prints on the inside of the front and back covers. I appreciated this touch as at times I needed to look at the pictures to determine which part of the design I was coloring. I used my own color choices rather than following exactly what the artist had done originally.

The story in this book is slightly different from what most people think of with respect to Snow White. I am planning on buying the children’s book which includes these designs so I can follow the story along as I color and to give to our grandchildren when I am finished coloring the book for them.

This is what I experienced in coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use to test with and which I use most of the time to color my projects.

21 Snow White designs based on the original artwork by Charles Santore with lots of gray shading

Designs are printed on one side of the page

Paper is heavyweight, slightly off-white, slightly rough to the touch and non-perforated

The Designs are bound by two heavyweight staples which can be removed to release all of the page from the book without any loss of design.

Designs do not merge into the binding area

Pages can be cut out if you wish without losing any design elements.

Book easily opens to a flat position for coloring.

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper easily.

Water-based markers leave shadows and slight spots of color bleed through on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens do not bleed through the page.

Colored pencils work well with the paper. It has a slight roughness to it that allows good pigment coverage from both oil and wax based pencils. I was able to layer and blend easily with both as well.

Charles Santore: Aesop’s Fables Coloring Book

By: ?

Rating: 5 of 5

When I first received this copy of Aesop’s Fables, I was a little concerned by all of the heavy shading in dark gray and black. I finally determined that the best way to deal with this was by using some of my recently learned grayscale techniques. In essence, I let the shadows in the book become my shading in my colored projects. What I found worked best for me was to use alcohol-based markers to put in the majority of my color as a foundation color and then to use colored pencils sparingly to add slight tonal changes. By utilizing this technique, I was really happy with the finished result.

The designs are all so beautiful and are well done representations of the original artwork. Thumbnails of the original watercolors of each design are printed in glossy prints on the inside of the front and back covers. I found this valuable in looking for clues as to what was what in the design. As I did with my first project, I am sure to create my own colored version as I color my way through the book.

Both my husband and I enjoyed Aesop’s Fables as children and we are both looking forward to telling these tales to our grandchildren. The pictures are representations of the stories, so we will need to have a written version of the tales at hand as well.

This is what I experienced in coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use to test with and which I use most of the time to color my projects.

21 Aesop’s Fables designs based on the original artwork by Charles Santore

Designs are printed on one side of the page

Paper is heavyweight, slightly off-white, slightly rough to the touch and non-perforated

The Designs are bound by two heavyweight staples which can be removed to release all of the page from the book without any loss of design.

Designs do not merge into the binding area

Pages can be cut out if you wish without losing any design elements.

Book easily opens to a flat position for coloring.

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper easily.

Water-based markers leave shadows and slight spots of color bleed through on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens do not bleed through the page.

Colored pencils work well with the paper. It has a slight roughness to it that allows good pigment coverage from both oil and wax based pencils. I was able to layer and blend easily with both as well.

Blooms, Birds, & Butterflies Coloring Postcards (gold foil on every card!)

By: Peter Pauper Press

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a lovely set of 16 postcards for coloring. The designs feature the artwork of Andie Hanna. I so enjoyed Ms Hanna’s coloring book (which this set is based on), that when I saw the postcards were available, I purchased them on a pre-order. There are birds, flowers, and butterflies as well as paisleys and other pattern designs as well.

The set is 2 each of eight designs. The postcards are loose leaf and come in a folding book-style holder that has a gorgeous cover. It as well as each of the postcards, are accented with shiny gold foil. It makes for a much more elegant postcard than those I usually color. The designs are detailed and they have small and intricate details. I suggest only the smallest of marker or pen nibs or very sharp pencils.

I started my first project thinking that I would use a number of colors but, in the end, I ended up finishing the design in one color only. I just loved the elegant look of purple, gold and white.

This is what I discovered when I colored and tested my coloring medium on these postcards:

8 x 2 each gold accented postcards for coloring based on artwork by Andie Hanna

Printed on heavyweight card stock

Cardstock is white, smooth, and is pre-printed for use as postcard on the back

Alcohol and water based markers, gel pens, and India Ink pens did not bleed through this card stock

Colored pencils work well with good color with both oil and wax based pencils. The design elements are so small, I could not do a good check of layering and blending, so I can’t verify if they work well or not.